Thursday, February 04, 2016

**Woops! I had this all written and ready to go, and I guess I forgot to hit publish...**12 Months

November 27 – December 26

Long story short:

-Milestones: Jack took his first
steps this month!!! He wrapped up the
month with 2 more teeth- making it 8 in total.
Jack said his first words this month, “ho ho ho!” (so fitting for my
day-after-Christmas-baby, AND just in time for Jack to celebrate his first
Christmas.

-Likes: Jack is still crazy-obsessed with his
walkers- especially his Y-bike. Houston
has been having very warm weather for December, so we have been taking
advantage and visiting our park across the street at LEAST once a day. Jack loves going across the bridge, eating
rocks, going down the slide, and pushing his y-bike as far away from me as
possible. Jack is also really into
playing peek-a-boo lately. He loves to
hide under a blanket with his little hands and feet sticking out and twisting
in excitement just waiting for me to pull the blanket off.

-Dislikes: Jack still hates having his face, nose,
hands, etc. wiped off. Either do it
yourself or get used to it, buddy. He
also severely dislikes when anyone takes something away from him, and he super
hates when I have the nerve to leave the room without him (major mommy
attachment this month).

-Foods: Jack’s love for avocados is still
going strong. He also really enjoys
grapes, pasta, yogurt, chicken, goldfish, and his sippy cup of water. He really does not enjoy eggs or bread.

-Sleep: Overall, Jack is still sleeping pretty
well! Although this month has brought us more sleep disruptions than I
care to discuss due to teething, travel, etc.
Also, I hate to acknowledge it, but I think Jack is beginning the
transition from 2 naps to 1 nap. Neither
of us are really ready for this (him, because on the day he tries 1 nap, he is
an awful Grinch until bedtime, me, for selfish reasons and wanting two “breaks”
each day). Sigh.

Long story (very) long:

49 Weeks (November 28 – December 4):

Well, it happened- Jack took his first steps! It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and we
had stopped over at my Aunt Mary’s house to visit. Mary and I were sitting across from each
other, and she was holding him between her legs. I had literally just gotten done telling Mary
how Jack didn’t really seem to be too interested in walking when he started
fussing for me and took about 4 or 5 steps over to me. I couldn’t believe it! He did it again a couple more times and then
again when we got home so David got to see it, but then he didn’t step again
the rest of the week! It was like he was
thinking, “oh oops, didn’t mean to let you know I could do that.”

It’s hard to top first steps, but a few other highlights from the week:
kneeling and playing rolling catch.

Open mouth kisses

Big park, little baby

50
Weeks (December 5 – 11):

I started preparing for Jack’s first Christmas this week.It’s so fun to think about Christmas with a
baby around.And SO crazy to think about
what I was doing this time last year.

New this week: drinking out of a straw and beginning to throw
mini-tantrums. I guess it’s getting me
ready for life with a toddler. Jack
loves to push his y-bike outside, but he loses his mind when I won’t let him go
into the street. I know, mean mom.

Grill master

Meltdown

51
Weeks (December 12 – 18)

This week we Jack got to meet Santa TWICE.The first meeting was a little neighborhood
setup, and to be quite honest, Santa and Mrs. Claus truly were a bit
frightening, so I don’t blame Jack for being skeptical and then flipping
out.Later in the week, we went to visit
Santa at the mall.This encounter was a
little less upsetting.We are still
having amazingly warm weather, so we are making at least daily trips to our
across the street park.Jack is FINALLY
becoming less interested in putting the pebbles that cover the playground floor
in his mouth.But now he will sit there
and throw handfuls of rocks over his shoulder, which ends up with a shirt and diaper full of rocks.

Also new this week- Jack loves playing with my iPhone and he thinks it’s
hilarious to “talk” to Siri.

Well, that's one way to do it

He loved his first candy cane!

Visiting dad at work

Spending a rainy day at the Children's Museum

52
Weeks (December 19 – 25)

Jack had a very busy last week as a baby. We started the week off with back to back
birthday parties at The Little Gym. Jack
had a lot of fun, and was worn out
afterwards! We traveled to Phoenix this
week to celebrate Christmas and Jack’s first birthday with my family. It was so fun to be with family for these two
special occasions. Of course, Jack
didn’t have any understanding of what was going on as far as Christmas or his
birthday went, but it was still fun to celebrate with him. He got some great gifts from Santa, but he of
course mostly enjoyed playing with the wrapping paper and ribbons. On Jack’s actual birthday, we had a few
family members and friends over to my parents’ house for a little birthday
celebration. Jack was so fascinated when
everyone sang him happy birthday, but he was not at all interested in his
cupcake. I was really surprised! We had a great time though, and I can’t
believe my sweet boy is ONE year old now!

New this week: Jack’s first word- “ho ho ho!”
So fitting for my little Christmas baby!

Saturday, November 07, 2015

You’re a double digit baby now!And you’re getting way too close to being a one year
old.I’m not ready for my baby to become
a toddler!Slow down, sweet boy!

Here’s a look at what Jack was up to this month:

Long story short:

-Milestones: Jack is cruising and
speed crawling everywhere! He is SOCLOSE
to standing on his own- I just know he will be standing any day now. Jack had his first vacation this month- to Hawaii
(lucky baby), and he traveled like a champ.
He still has just the 4 teeth, and I love his little vampire smile. He can feed himself most table foods with his
hands, and he is making all kinds of new sounds: “k,” “g,” "b," and unfortunately
for our ears, his scream has reached even higher volumes.

-Likes: Jack still loves climbing the stairs- he
will stand at the gate and whine at me until I open it for him to do his daily
stair climb. At the beginning of the
month he HATED when I would try to make him use his walker, but now he loves
it, and he pushes it everywhere. He’s
still oddly obsessed with the alarm panel, the thermostat panels, and the
string that hangs down from the attic door.
Weirdo. Unfortunately, he still
loves pulling my hair and now biting me.
Yay. Favorite toys include: big
stuffed bear (who really needs a name), Baby Einstein “ipod,” Tupperware,
toilet paper, toilet seat, walker, rugs (he obsesses over the fringe), and his
basting brush (don’t ask).

-Dislikes: Diaper/clothes changes
and wiping of face/hands = torture.

-Foods: I haven’t really come across any
foods that he refuses to eat, but in general he’s just not that big of an
eater. He still loves his milk and
formula. Sometimes I get a little
worried that he’s not eating enough solids, but I figure he is gaining weight
fine, so I try not to worry about it. He
does really seem to like avocado and still loves broccoli.

-Sizes: Diaper size 4, Clothing: 12 months,
moving into 18 month

-Sleep: Sleep got a little messed up with all
the travelling we did, and the 5 hour time change was a doozy. But overall, it really wasn’t as bad as it
could have been, and I’m so glad we started sleep training BEFORE our trip to
Hawaii. It took about 3-4 days to adjust
back to Houston time, but after that sleep was good again. That is, until he started cutting 3 teeth all
at once. Grrrrr….

Long story (very) long:

40 Weeks (September 27 –
October 2)

During Jack’s 40th week, we made a
quick trip to Austin so that he could meet David’s cousin who was visiting from
Germany. This week Jack also cut his 4th
tooth. So now he has the two bottom
middle teeth and the top two lateral incisors. Which basically means he looks like a vampire.
He caught a cold this week, unfortunately. Just in time for our trip to Hawaii… ugh!

Other highlights of the week: loves sticking his tongue out. He also loves to blow raspberries on his
hand, my neck, the couch, etc. 42 Weeks (October 10 - 16)

First taste of Texas BBQ

TEEF!

Jack ALWAYS rubs his head while eating

41 Weeks (October 3 – 9)

Jack traveled to Hawaii this week! We went for my mom’s 60th birthday
celebration, and I’d been both looking forward to and dreading this trip for
months. I was mostly nervous about the
flight, but he did great! It was totally
exhausting to entertain a baby on your lap for 6+ hours, but he really
surprised me and was a great little traveler.
Once there, we had lots of extra hands to help out with Jack, and he
loved all the attention. The 5 hour time
difference was a big adjustment and resulted in many EARLY mornings, but again,
overall, he did really well, and I can’t complain. It was so fun to watch him experience the
beach and the ocean for the very first time.
He loved the water and (eating) the sand!

New trick this week:
rubbing his fingers over his lips to make a “blub blub” sound

First time in the Pacific Ocean (or any ocean for that matter)

Stuck

Rough life

42 Weeks (October 10 - 16)

This week we were mostly just recovering from
our trip and readjusting to the time change and our normal schedule.I have been trying to get him to practice
“walking” either by holding onto his hands and making walking motions forward
or by trying to get him to practice with his walker.Every time I try either method, he plants his
feet firmly and leans forward for as long as he possibly can without moving his
feet.And when I try to get him to use
the walker, he just cries.It’s so
pathetic.Poor guy!Also noteworthy this week- Jack is getting a
little bit more cuddly!He has always
loved being held, but he hasn’t ever been cuddly while being held.He’s much too busy to lay his head on my
shoulder or relax on my lap.But it now
seems like this is slowly changing.When
he is sleepy before naps, he will rest his head on my shoulder for a minute or
two… until he gets distracted by something more interesting.I’ll take what I can get though!He also is starting to reach his arms up/out
when he is sitting on the ground and wants to be picked up.And he also loves to pull to standing at my
leg while I am cooking or washing dishes or otherwise busy and whine and cry
until I pick him up,He loves being in
on the action at all times and does not appreciate being left alone for very
long.

Last day in Hawaii

Tickle!

43 Weeks (October 17 – 23)

This week started off with
a bang.Literally.Jack had his first big fall.He fell off of our bed and landed right on
his head.And it happened on my watch.I felt so awful. Still do.It was so scary for both of us!He screamed and cried, and even ended up
vomiting shortly after it happened, which can be a bad sign after a fall.I spoke with a nurse at our doctor’s office
though, and she asked me a million questions, gave me some things to watch for,
and determined that he didn’t need to be seen.I took him in to see his pediatrician the next day though, just to be
sure.He got the all clear.

We had some fun
Halloween/Fall activities this week. We
had a neighborhood Halloween play date where we decorated pumpkins. Jack was more interested in the toys, but we
left with his very first Halloween pumpkin that he (I) decorated. At the end of the week, Jack and I went to
ZOO BOO at the Houston Zoo. This is
definitely an activity that will be more enjoyable when he is older, but it was
still fun to check it out. The highlight
of that trip was that he stood on his own for the very first time while we were
in the mini pumpkin patch! And lucky for
me, it was right when I was taking pumpkin patch photos of him! He has only done it again a handful of
times. I don’t think he even realizes
what he’s doing when it happens, but there’s no doubt that he will be standing
on his own very soon!

Other updates from the
week: After the drama of me forcing him
to use his walker last week, he now LOVES the walker and waddles around all day
now! It’s the cutest thing, and he is
just so proud of himself! He will walk
full speed ahead until he rams into a wall, and then he will just stare at me
like, “um mom, hurry up and get over here to help me so I can keep moving!”

My very own JACK-o-lantern

Obsessed

Trouble

Mohawk

1st time standing!!!

Why is this a thing again, mom?...

Zoo selfies

It's been a wonderful 10 months with you, Jack Andrew! Can't wait to see what the next month brings!